Rich get Richer , Poor get Poorer

The New York Times is reporting that the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer . So whats new .

Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans — those with incomes that year of more than $348,000 — receiving their largest share of national income since 1928 . The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than $100,000, also reached a level of income share not seen since before the Depression .

Total reported income in the United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005 but average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent. The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more than $139,000, or about 14 percent.

The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.

The top 10 percent of Americans collected 48.5 percent of all reported income in 2005.

The top 1 percent received 21.8 percent of all reported income in 2005 .

The top tenth of a percent and top one-hundredth of a percent recorded even bigger gains in 2005 over the previous year. Their incomes soared by about a fifth in one year . The top tenth of a percent reported an average income of $5.6 million . The top one-hundredth of a percent had an average income of $25.7 million.